Just wanted to know if there are any rules prohibiting setting up a dedicated Teamspeak (or Ventrilo) server for Dopers who wanted to have a bit of a chat? (The server would have to have an add/info notice on the dope, which is why I’m wondering about the rules)
And if there’s no rules prohibiting it, if there’s any interest for it? It would be an easy thing to set up and I could probably chip in the dollars needed for a year’s server lease easily enough.
I guess it could be done in two ways. Either just set up (and sticky?) a topic in the MPSIMS board with the server IP and password, and let access be free-for-all, or I could hand out the info to anyone who PM’ed me which would have the benefit of only being availible to paying members (since only they could gain access to my profile information, I think). It depends on what people want.
So, what do you think? I’d love the opportunity to shoot some lip and listen to the wisecracking asses of the SDMB live.
Teamspeak - Wiki link - is a voice-over-IP client. It basically means we plug in our microphones, log on and speak to each other in real-time; no fee for the end user. The “server” is usually private, meaning you can only get access to the server if you have the IP address and the password.
Once you’re logged in, the teamspeak server is basically built up like a house. There’s different rooms, usually for different people or different topics. It’s most commonly used for gamers in games like World of Warcraft, who want to talk to their fellow guild-mates both for social and organisational purposes.
All you need is a microphone, the server info and the client which is around a 6MB download.
(And we do have coloured type, dammit, get with the times! :p)
If you set up a Ventrilo server and you’re not familiar with Macs, please contact me and I’ll help you configure it to support Mac clients (the default config doesn’t work well on non-Windows systems).
I suppose that it would be fair to have the moderators use this feature amongst themselves first (to test it out) and see if it would be a good feature on the board proper.
PS: Am I delirious for thinking that given your first amendment rights, you don’t need anyone’s permission to start up whatever kind of server you want and put it in your sig?
Yes, but the message board has an equal right to ban you from this message board for violating a direct administrator instruction not to do anything until she checks with management.
And they might have problems with you using the name “Straight Dope”, or even promoting the server on here - especially if, as Gukumatz suggests, there’s a notice up actually on this site.
Well, my thought behind it was not to thread on anyone’s toes and since it would be targeted at their membership, I only though it due to ask for permission.
(Hell, around here I really am better off asking permission than forgiveness, so I’m sticking to my plan :p)
Alterego: Well, I suppose the RSS feed would need some site-side or server-side wrench-work? Other than that, no difference, I guess. (IRC is multiplayer notepad, though)
You wouldn’t even need a microphone, you can use a pair of headphones plugged into the mic jack and get exceptional quality without buying any extra goodies.
Unless you didn’t want to look dorky if someone walked in on you…
